A number of the medical (e.g., laboratory) tests performed in patient diagnosis and treatment require correct demographic information in order to determine that a result is within a correct normal range or critical range as well as a type of test to be performed. Existing systems provide limited capability for ensuring patient demographic information is correct and typically rely on the demographic information obtained during a patient admission process. If patient demographic information is incorrect upon acquisition or is entered incorrectly, clinical tests that use the demographic information, or are reliant on the information, may produce erroneous result values. Consequently, erroneous normal, abnormal and/or critical ranges and results may be reported. The erroneous normal, abnormal and/or critical ranges or results that may be generated using incorrect demographic information may produce incorrect clinical decisions resulting in patient harm, indicate expensive and unnecessary treatment options and may cause unneeded patient concern.
Although a physician may know normal ranges for a particular test and can determine that the ranges are in error in a corresponding particular test result, the large number of tests that are used by an individual physician make this an almost impossible task for the physician. An individual physician is typically capable of remembering a small number of normal ranges. Consequently reliance on human memory risks error and unreliability. A system according to invention principles addresses this deficiency and related problems.